England captain Ben Stokes reveals he was inches from death after freak cricket accident

Ben Stokes has revealed that he came inches away from death during a freak accident that left him with gruesome injuries.

The England captain suffered a major facial injury after being hit with a ball whilst practising at Durham’s indoor facility in February.

Getty

At the time, Stokes shared pictures of his face, showing him battered and bruised with a black eye, a swollen cheek and a bloody nose.

He ended up suffering a broken cheekbone and further injuries.

Following the incident, the English Test skipper underwent surgery on his face and hasn’t played a game of cricket since.

However, he’s now tipped to make a comeback in May – and ahead of that, he’s given some more detail on his horrible accident.

Speaking in an interview with the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board), Stokes explained: “I copped one straight in the face.

“Pretty nasty, but funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest.

“Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview… if I didn’t turn my head round.

“So, all things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out, it was a bit of a mess under here (cheekbone), I’ve got out quite lucky.

“So pretty thankful for that.”

The 34-year-old continued: “It obviously set everything back about a month, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham.

Instagram | @stokesy

“I just had to sort of quickly go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to get me ready to play a couple of games for Durham before the Test summer starts.

“I’m at the back end of all that now, but it was a pretty scary situation to be in.

“But thankfully, still here and everything’s all right.”

When will Stokes return to action?

Stokes is looking set to make a return to county cricket from May 8, as Durham take on Worcestershire.

And a second appearance could come when Durham face Kent from May 15.

As for his return to England action, Stokes could feature for the England Lions ahead of playing for the first team.

Getty

The Lions have a fixture against South Africa at the end of May.

Then, should he be fully fit, Stokes will hope to play in the first Test of the summer against New Zealand, which begins on June 4.

The action will take place over four days at Lord’s in London.

talkSPORT and talkSPORT.com will have live updates and all the latest news from the Test when it comes around this summer.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. 

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.